BB28Aug 18, 9:26 PM

Evening Update: 24 Hours After the Diamond

Twenty-four hours after the diamond, the noms are still Angela, Haley, and Kamu. Yash is still selling an Icon boot and calling Kamu his sword and shield; Mallory said if Haley wins Blockbuster, they take Kamu out. FAP is leaking — Mallory told Melody she was never going to be loyal to the Mosh Pit. Tuesday evening Lala interrogated Angela about Dee, Taylor blew up, and Yash put Lala on thin ice. Nothing is locked until Thursday's Blockbuster.

Twenty-four hours after Devens burned the diamond, the nominations haven't moved an inch. Everything around them has. There was no morning note today, so this one runs the full loop: Monday night through Tuesday at 9:15 PM.

The board, one beat

Same as when we left it Monday: Yash is HOH, held his own veto, Devens pulled Dee off with the DPOV, and Kamu went up as the replacement. Final noms are Angela, Haley, and Kamu; Dee is active. If you missed Monday, the evening note and the emergency post on the diamond have the whole thing. Blockbuster and eviction are still Thursday.

So the board is frozen. The next twenty-four hours were about which of the three nominees the votes actually land on — and Tuesday night, about Lala setting her own side on fire trying to answer that question out loud.

Overnight: Kamu counts votes Drew doesn't correct

Late Monday, Angela's birthday variety show gave way to actual game. At 11:52 PM, Angela asked Mallory what Kamu had been saying; Mallory relayed that Kamu doesn't trust Devens, and that if he keeps making promises, he could stay (Jokers). File that under things Mallory says to Angela, not things Mallory believes — more on that below.

The real overnight scene was Kamu sitting Drew down in the Have-Not room from about 12:42 to 1:26 AM. Kamu called the current block his "trifecta" opportunity. Drew told him Melody might keep Angela over Haley, and that Haley has to win Blockbuster for both of them to stay. Kamu asked directly if he has Drew's vote; Drew said obviously (Jokers). Kamu made the case that the house has to take shots at the Icons because the Icons will never pick them, said he wants all three gone, and asked Drew to be honest if the votes aren't there (Jokers, Jokers).

Per updaters covering the same window, Kamu counted Drew, Melody, Mallory, Lala, and Taylor, and said if Haley wins Blockbuster he'd have six — Drew did not correct any of it. He also floated maybe losing Blockbuster on purpose to make a statement, which the feeds crowd treated with the seriousness it deserved, and said Devens and Dee created "this culture" he doesn't like (@TheBigBroTea, @89razorskate20). Then Bible study.

The problem for Kamu is that he was spilling Icon tea to a founding member of FAP, and Drew just kept nodding.

Tuesday HOH: sword and shield, meet buyer's remorse

Late morning through midday was one long HOH session, and it should all be read as pitches, not plans.

Kamu got to Mallory first, 10:29 AM, claiming Dee has "the bride" — a $5,000 power to make someone do anything — and probably gave it to Devens, which is why Devens used the DPOV. Mallory said it made sense (Jokers). For the record: Dee's known power from earlier notes is the BB Bribe, already spent as an offer Yash turned down. Kamu's "gave it to Devens" is house theory, not fact. He also floated a seven with Mallory, Melody, Drew, Barrett, Yash, and Taylor — pitch, labeled.

Then Yash spent an hour trying to sell Mallory on keeping Kamu — a shield and a sword they need, same case for Haley (Jokers, 11:24 AM). Mallory kept agreeing Kamu is good at the game, then made the counter-argument herself: they don't need a great competitor to take out the Icons, they have this opportunity now (Jokers, 11:32 AM). They reassured each other they'd save each other over Kamu (Jokers, 11:50 AM).

Talking to Mallory at 11:52 AM, Yash conceded the obvious pair next to Angela is Kamu, said he told Angela that whoever sits next to her goes home, said he doesn't want Angela gone, and called Kamu ripe to be taken out (Jokers). Hold that as a messy HOH minute, not a locked boot — the rest of the day he was still selling Mallory on keeping Kamu. Per updaters on the same sit, Yash wants the Icon kill shot this week, thinks Dee and Devens have Barrett at most, wants Haley kept as a weapon against the Icons, and admitted Mallory had a point when she noted Kamu has kept himself off the block every single HOH (@89razorskate20).

Mallory's counter, at noon: Kamu, Haley, and the Icons are functionally one group, because if their backs weren't against the wall they'd still be together (Jokers). And on the Icons themselves — Mallory wants Devens out most; Yash called him the scariest (Jokers, 12:18 PM).

Then Melody came up, they re-pitched Yash together, Yash unloaded the full Dee dossier — the pre-noms Haley/Drew suggestion, the $5,000 offers, his suspicion the leak from Lala's HOH meeting is Barrett or Drew — and Mallory said it plainly: if Haley wins the Blockbuster, we take Kamu out (Jokers, 12:33–12:50 PM).

That's the standoff at midday. Yash wants Angela gone and Kamu kept. FAP wants roughly the reverse. Nobody's saying it to each other's face at full volume.

Afternoon: the seven leaks from every seam

The Mosh Pit — the seven named on Sunday — spent Tuesday afternoon behaving like a group that knows it's temporary.

Taylor to Drew, 2:03 PM: she hates to see Angela leave but is open, and — direct quote of position — she does not want Kamu to stay (Jokers). Two minutes later she warned Drew that Yash will target Devens; Drew shrugged that Kamu was close to Devens and look what happened (Jokers).

Hold that Taylor line, because at 5:12 PM, talking with Mallory and Melody, Taylor said she wants Angela out — closest to Dee, easiest to beat, the one she likes most — and that "in a perfect world Haley goes" because she's biased toward Kamu (Jokers). That's the opposite lean in three hours. Both are real. Don't flatten her into either camp yet.

Meanwhile the anti-Devens current got louder. At 3:27 PM Barrett told Angela to win Blockbuster for us; she said she'd do her best, and noted game talk stops when Lala walks in (Jokers). Then Mallory told Barrett she doesn't trust Devens, thinks he "solidified" the Mosh Pit as cover for using the DPOV on himself, and would go after him before final seven. Barrett argued the Icons are the best shields — his phrase, "best intestines" — and clocked that Mallory was misting him. Mallory: don't tell Devens (Jokers, 3:40–4:22 PM).

Then the storage room, 4:48 PM, where Mallory and Melody stopped sounding like the seven they joined on Sunday. They agreed the Icons will always choose themselves, that Yash and Taylor will always choose them, and Mallory said the quiet part: "I was never going to be loyal to The Mosh Pit, to be honest." Melody doesn't trust Barrett and is angry Drew never told her he'd been working with the Icons. The plan: keep telling the Icons they rock with them, actually rock with Yash and Taylor (Jokers, Jokers).

And the leaks ran both directions. Per updaters: Mallory told Lala she'd do whatever Yash wants this week; Mallory assured Angela that Kamu will go even if the vote has to be split; and Barrett told Angela, Devens, and Dee that Yash wants Angela out this week (@TheBigBroTea, @89razorskate20, @TheBigBroTea). Three different rooms got three different versions of the week, and at least one of them is going to compare notes.

6:08 PM: Lala asks the wrong question

Bathroom. Taylor sweeping. Lala asked Angela, point blank, how close she is to Dee. Taylor, immediately: you don't ask that (Jokers).

Angela held her ground across ten minutes of it: she doesn't tell Dee Lala's business, they were strangers before the show, she likes Dee as a person but doesn't share game, and she doesn't trust Devens (Jokers, 6:11, Jokers, 6:12). When Lala said "we're deciding between Dee, Haley, and you," Angela pointed out the obvious: Dee is not on the block (Jokers, 6:16). Lala told Angela to talk to Yash; Angela told Lala to talk to Haley; Lala said Haley's word means nothing and that she believes Angela (Jokers, 6:20). Taylor scolded Lala for bothering "Miss Angela" — like having a child, she said (Jokers).

Lala's own explanation, per updaters, is that this was strategy: she'd heard Angela would go over Haley, she wants Angela to stay, and she staged the questions in front of Taylor so Taylor and Yash would hear Angela clear herself on Dee (@TheBigBroTea, @89razorskate20). That's her pitch. The execution read differently to everyone in the room.

Fallout: thin ice, no dinner

Angela spiraled after; Drew comforted her (Jokers, 7:25 PM). Haley, for her part, told Angela to suck up the alligator tears (Jokers, 8:38 PM).

The heavier fallout landed on Lala. Per updaters: Taylor, Yash, and Kamu agreed to stop telling her anything. Yash reasoned that if Lala goes up, Taylor is next, maybe him. Taylor and Yash told her directly she's on thin ice; Lala said she'd stick to good morning, good afternoon, good night, and Yash allowed that it "sounds fucked up, but yeah." Yash to Taylor: there will be a day we send her home. Taylor no longer wants Lala in jury; Yash agreed (@TheBigBroTea, @BBBitez).

On the feeds it played out in miniature at 8:33 PM — Melody asked why Lala was crying; Yash: I told her sit, don't talk game, cook, don't talk (Jokers). Taylor refused to cook because it "will not be cooked with love," then delivered the line of the night: she's Cirie, Lala is Jared, and she's about to send Lala home for messing up her game (Jokers, 8:35 PM). By 9 PM Lala was crying with Kamu comforting her, having told Angela she would vote to keep Kamu over her — which Taylor noted is exactly why you don't open conversations (@TheBigBroTea, @BBBitez).

Two other evening beats worth keeping. At 8:17 PM Melody told Drew that if she wins HOH she'd put up Haley, Yash, and Lala — hours after telling Mallory that Yash and Taylor are the future — and Drew pushed her toward running with the Icons as shields (Jokers). And per updaters, Yash was still working his branch late: Angela is "dead weight but still weight — she is their Lala," if Kamu wins Blockbuster they send Haley, and he coached Haley to campaign anti-Icons and hide her closeness to Kamu (@TheBigBroTea). Taylor separately told Haley she doesn't have the votes against Angela — Taylor's read, not a count (@TheBigBroTea).

Thursday, branch by branch

Nothing is locked. The Blockbuster decides which two of Angela, Haley, and Kamu actually face the vote, and the house's answer changes with the bracket:

Haley wins: Kamu vs Angela. This is FAP's branch — Mallory said it in the HOH at 12:50 PM: Haley wins, Kamu goes. Yash still wants to save Kamu, so expect a fight, not a formality.
Kamu wins: Haley vs Angela. This is Yash's preferred branch, and house talk currently has Angela staying more often than Haley — but Yash wanting Angela out and Taylor's 5 PM lean means "more often" is not "safely."
Angela wins: Haley vs Kamu. FAP still leans Kamu; Yash still leans Haley; Taylor has said both things today.

Yash spent Tuesday selling Kamu as his sword and shield. Kamu spent Monday night counting a six that includes at least three people who told other rooms the opposite. Twenty-four hours after the diamond, the noms haven't changed — but almost every read in the house has.

Receipts

Overnight Monday into Tuesday

HOH and Tuesday afternoon

The interrogation

Fallout